Log sections are commonly split into firewood size pieces by means of either an ax or a wedge driven by a sledge hammer. Considerable force and accuracy of swing are required when using either a long-handled ax or a sledge for this purpose. Particularly, where an ax is used, it is necessary to swing the ax head into approximately the same place in the wood section on each swing, in order to begin a split and to continue it through the section. Since this is difficult to do, ax splitting is relatively time-consuming for the results achieved.
Further, the swinging of an ax or a sledge hammer is dangerous due to the possibility of breaking a handle or of the head flying off the handle or of the head striking someone in the near vicinity of the operator. Moreover, both ax and wedge splitting ordinarily require considerable bending and stooping of the operator to properly align the log after blows that cause the log to either tip or turn over or, where necessary, to reposition the wedge as it penetrates into the log.
Thus, it is desirable to provide a log splitting system which utilizes a hammer action to drive a wedge-like point into a log for splitting it, but with minimal physical movement and with maximum accuracy to reduce the number of blows required. This invention relates to such a device for splitting log sections into firewood fire pieces as a replacement for a coventional ax or wedge and hammer.